Senior Pastor Update - 2023/09/21
Hello LaSalle -
I hope that you’ve had a good week and are avoiding the colds, germs, and viruses going around this season! Our fam is recovering from our bout with sickness and I’ve been reminded of the gifts of access to medication, space to rest, and health insurance, knowing not everyone has these privileges. As we move into the colder, wetter months this fall, I am also keenly aware of our neighbors who are unhoused, or for a variety of reasons don’t have as much access to shelter, health care, and support – and I am so proud of our Body who notices, sees, and responds to those in marginal spaces like this. (I am also making sure to bring my Benevolence Bags we made in church to the car this week!) Building on this commitment of ours, I hope to see you all this Sunday for our first Serve Sunday, where together as our act of worship we will be serving Migrant Families in our neighborhood. Read more specifics about this Sunday’s service project on our web site, and join with me in praying over this Sunday’s ministry as we prepare to both serve others and receive, knowing that the Holy Spirit moves and transforms us each when we are proximate to suffering, injustice, community, and hope in Jesus’ name.
I also have an exciting update for our church that follows up on Moderator Kari’s post last week that named the strategic goals directing this season of our ministry. As part of the staff shifts that we are assessing, I am delighted to share that phase one of our staff re-org/refresh is being enacted in October with two main shifts. The first is that we’ve been in a search and hiring process to bring an Associate Pastor of Formation onto our staff who will cover parts of Pastor Pam’s previous role, bring a refocus and increased capacity on students/youth and families, as well as bring gifts for formation and discipleship of all ages. We’re delighted that Rev. Alicia Vela Anderson has accepted this role and will bring her 15+ years of pastoral experience to LSC. She and her husband Jed are currently in Minneapolis, MN, and will be relocating to Chicago in early October to join our team. Read more about Rev. Alicia and this role on our web site — as well as when/how to meet and welcome her to our congregation!
The second shift of phase one is moving Pastor Julie’s role to being our Director of Outreach and Advocacy, which names and makes visible all that she’s been leading and supporting for some time. Her role will continue to lead and manage our community-based ministries already happening Monday – Saturday as well as create more capacity for fundraising, developing, and advocating around that area. More on this role is also in our FAQ – and I am so excited to see the ways that God will be at work through Julie’s many gifts to help our whole Body continue to be hands and feet living out our faith in action.
I also want to thank our gifted staff for all that they’ve been doing to launch this fall worship series – our first Banquet Sunday was filled with energy and so many people stayed for the meal; our first Belong Sunday launched classes on prayer and sermon discussion and kids of various ages connecting; our first Serve Sunday is this week, and our first Sabbath Sunday is being prepared with thoughtfulness and care to create a contemplative online space for worship.
Thanks to you, too, church, for all the ways you are continuing to follow God’s call to be a unique congregation that welcomes people as they are, focuses on making room for belonging, has an expansive faith, is generous and relational, and invests in God’s justice. I am so grateful for your ongoing welcome of me and my family, your extension of trust in me and our wider church leadership in this season of shifting and growing, and your faithfulness in God as we all listen for where the Holy Spirit is leading. Continue to share with me and our leaders how you’re hearing God speak in this season - and continue to share the invitation to others to join us at the table, the abundant banquet table, where our good God is more than enough for us, for one another, and for our world!
With thanks in the One who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ask or imagine, according to God’s power that is at work within us. – Rev Liz